Fiki Naki: Autodidact Learning of Five Foreign Languages

In an interview with Tanoto Foundation Talkshow host Rachel Amanda, famous YouTuber Fiki Naki shared his experience in mastering five foreign languages autodidact, that enables him to communicate and befriended with young people from many parts of the world.

He said he was grateful to his parents who allowed him to choose his own life path although initially they also worried about his choice to learn languages through self-learning process. They become more confident with him, because his new fame also means he can generate wealthy income from his social media activity.

Fiki who will turn 23 years old in next July 24, now can fluently speak in English, Romanian, Russia, Mandarin and German. And he hopes that in 2024 he will be able to use 10 foreign languages in daily conversations.

He learned the languages by watching movies in Netflix, and YouTube with subtitles in foreign languages. “I repeatedly practiced what I heard until I could speak the language like a native speaker,” said the Fiki who went to the university to study informatic engineering for two years just to please his parents.

“When I took one gap year, my parents worried, because I spent most of my time in my room. I feel pity with my parents. Then I went to university. I just followed my friend who studied informatic engineering,” said Fiki.

“But I could stand only for two years because it was not my dream. I decided to focus on language, because I love it so much,” the YouTuber continued his explanation.

When asked about the secret of his success in mastering the languages, he replied that strong determination and self-discipline are among the keys to learn foreign languages through self-learning process.  He said he studied at least six hours daily. But he also acknowledged that he did not like book as he preferred visual.

“Learning foreign languages autodidact or self-learning is not easy at all.  First you must be consistent. Second you must have many methods to learn because it is easy to be bored. Then third you must have friends. It is very sad when you are alone,” said Fiki who was born in Pekalongan, a Batik producing city in Central Java.

“I love to learn new things, singing, beat box, when I was at SMP and SMA. I learned skateboard, juggling. I learned from Shelma an American YouTuber, who is a very fluent Chinese Mandarin speaker. Then I tried to learn language,” Fiki answered when asked about his journey to learn foreign languages.

Romanian language was his second foreign language after English after he met with a Romanian friend through OME TV channel.

If you love spontaneous online meetings with strangers, OmeTV chat is here for you. You will meet a wide variety of cool personalities from around the world, Fiki explained.

“I went to Romania some time ago and stayed with my friends. I have great experience. For instance, in Indonesia it is taboo to use left hand unless we cannot use my right hands because we hold somethings. They were amazed with my explanation,” he said.

Fiki recently found a Spanish friend when he used Vlog. Fiki followed his new friend, who used subtitle in English vice versa. Then he opened vocabulary to understand better. he noted words which he did not understand.

“We played games together, Siesgo and Minecraft, and I learned Spanish from him in the same time. Improving my language and playing games in the same time,” Fiki added.

Why using vlog? “Because my purpose to learn language is to reach a level of ability like the native speakers in their daily conversations. I want informal level, not formal,” Fiki noted.

Fiki started to create contents after he uploaded the video of his conversations with his foreign friends. “I felt surprised and excited to see the public reactions,” he added.

What is his next plan? “Now I am excited with architecture. When I saw buildings, it looks amazing. I got information there was a university in Turkey which solely focuses on architecture.”

Does he set own target or goal? He said This is his shortcomings. He is a spontaneous man. Today is today. He never prepares for the next five years for instance.

Does he have any plan to create more video contents? He said he is still producing new contents,

What is his next plan? “I will stay in several countries three months each. For instance, I will live in Spain, and will share my experience during my stay there. I can communicate with local YouTubers. I also can introduce Indonesian culture.”

Fiki laughed when he shared his conversations with Indonesians friends about their motive to be active in OMETV. “They want to have a foreign wife,” he said.